Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and, more specifically, to an image forming apparatus having a trial copy function and a control method thereof.
Description of the Background Art
Recently, image forming apparatuses including copy machines having various and many copy functions and capable of high-speed copying have been put on the market.
As the number of functions increases, it becomes difficult to handle skillfully the various and many functions of the device except for users who are familiar with such a device through daily use. Miscopies resulting from errors in operations for setting copy conditions are likely. Even if the user finds the setting error immediately after starting the copy, in a high-speed copy machine, a large number of copies would be taken before the once-started copy operation stops, wasting resources.
Therefore, high-speed copiers having a “trial copy function” of providing only one copy before outputting a plurality of number of copies, and thereby allowing the user to confirm finished state, have been commercially available. Further, apparatuses having a function of displaying an expected state of an output image (preview function) on a display screen of an operation panel, and thereby allowing the user to confirm, have also been commercially available. Techniques related to copiers having the “trial copy function” and “preview function” are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2007-160790 (hereinafter referred to as '790 Reference).
'790 Reference discloses a function allowing confirmation of output result before starting copying, by selecting either the “trial copy” or “preview display.” The user selects a desired course from an operation screen image displayed on a display unit of a touch-panel.
Specifically, on an operation display unit shown in FIG. 2 of '790 Reference, a liquid crystal display unit allowing touch input is provided near the central portion. On the right side of liquid crystal display unit, a group of hard keys (operation unit) including ten keys, an interruption key and a start key is provided, and a hard key for selecting the “trial copy” mode is provided therein. If the trial copy key is operated, the copy executed immediately thereafter will be in the trial copy mode. Specifically, after a document is scanned and read, the image based on the read image is not formed but once displayed as a preview image on the operation screen image (liquid crystal display unit) (see FIG. 6 of '790 Reference). By operating a page feed key (left/right arrows for changing the display page, on the right side of preview image) displayed together with the preview image, it is possible to confirm the preview images by turning the preview images one by one. By touching “print stop” or “print continue” displayed at an upper right portion of the same screen display, it is possible to stop or continue the trial copy mode.
According to the operation specification disclosed in '790 Reference, keys having “print continue” and “print stop” indications thereon exist on the display screen and, in addition, a “start” key and a “clear/stop” key exist on the operation unit. The “print continue” and “print stop” can also be interpreted as start and stop of printing, respectively. This may leads to user's confusion as to which of the keys on the display screen and the keys on the operation unit are to be operated. Such a situation possibly causes erroneous operations of the user and, hence, there is still a possibility of miscopies, particularly a large number of miscopies in high-speed copiers.